Global Graphics

Last updated
Global Graphics SA
Type Public
Euronext:  GLOG
Industry Software
Founded Nancy (1996)
Headquarters
Cambourne, Cambridgeshire
,
UK
Website Global Graphics

Global Graphics PLC is known for its digital printing and document technology including the Harlequin and Jaws RIPs and the gDoc digital document software. The Company supplies its software under license to Original Equipment Manufacturers and software vendors who build products around it. Today it is primarily used in the Digital Front Ends of new generation digital and inkjet production presses and in desktop and mobile productivity software products. The Company has a large share of the photobook and newspaper markets. It is listed on the Euronext stock exchange in Brussels under the symbol GLOG.

History

Global Graphics was incorporated in 1996 in Nancy, France in connection with the acquisition of the Photomeca group of companies and at the time was primarily a pre-press hardware business. However, in 1999 Global Graphics expanded into the printing software market with the acquisition of the Harlequin Group and in 2000 of 5D Solutions through which it acquired the Jaws RIP and Jaws PDF® range of technologies. In 2002 it divested itself of its hardware businesses altogether, emerging as a software only company. [1]

As a result of the Company’s expertise in Page Description Languages such as PostScript® and PDF, in 2003 Global Graphics was chosen by Microsoft to provide consultancy and proof of concept development services on XPS, Microsoft’s new print and document format, and worked with the Windows development teams on the specification for the new format. XPS remains the format for Windows operating systems going forward.
In 2009, Global Graphics introduced the gDoc brand as the successor to the Jaws PDF range, initially as stand-alone productivity applications, such as gDoc Fusion and gDoc Creator. In 2015 these were spun off onto a separate web site, gDoc Inspired, to showcase examples of software applications that can be built on the gDoc Application Platform and the gDoc Printer Platform. [2]

In 2015 Global Graphics purchased its long-standing customer RTI, located in Sarasota, Florida, USA. RTI provides and supports custom-branded versions of the Harlequin RIP direct to print service providers and printing equipment manufacturers, mostly in the North American market. Quick to take advantage of the internet selling RTI has grown a successful on-line sales operation over the past 20 years. In September 2015 Global Graphics acquired font manufacturer URW++ Design & Development GmbH located in Hamburg, Germany. The company invented digital outline font technology and tools 35 years ago and is one of the few remaining font foundries that date from the pre-PostScript era. In addition to licensing their extensive type libraries to the graphic design market they develop exclusive corporate typefaces, counting brands such as General Motors, Mercedes Benz and Siemens among their customer base.

In December 2016, Global Graphics acquired TTP Meteor Limited, specialists in printhead driver systems, from the TTP Group plc based near Cambridge, UK. [3]

In December 2017, Global Graphics expanded its relationship with HP Indigo to include HP Indigo's range of label and packaging presses. [4]

Global Graphics has main offices in Cambourne, UK; Acton MA, USA; and Tokyo, Japan.

In May 2018, Global Graphics Software introduced Mako, software development kit (SDK) for preparing documents for print and designed to give complete control over pre-press files. [5]

In November 2019 Global Graphics PLC acquired Xitron, LLC (“Xitron”), a company headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. Xitron develops workflow systems and interfaces to drive prepress output devices.

Related Research Articles

PDF Portable Document Format, a computer file format

Portable Document Format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. Based on the PostScript language, each PDF file encapsulates a complete description of a fixed-layout flat document, including the text, fonts, vector graphics, raster images and other information needed to display it. PDF has its roots in "The Camelot Project" initiated by Adobe co-founder John Warnock in 1991.

PostScript (PS) is a page description language in the electronic publishing and desktop publishing realm. It is a dynamically typed, concatenative programming language. It was created at Adobe Systems by John Warnock, Charles Geschke, Doug Brotz, Ed Taft and Bill Paxton from 1982 to 1984.

In digital printing, a page description language (PDL) is a computer language that describes the appearance of a printed page in a higher level than an actual output bitmap. An overlapping term is printer control language, which includes Hewlett-Packard's Printer Command Language (PCL). PostScript is one of the most noted page description languages. The markup language adaptation of the PDL is the page description markup language.

Desktop publishing (DTP) is the creation of documents using page layout software on a personal ("desktop") computer. It was first used almost exclusively for print publications, but now it also assists in the creation of various forms of online content. Desktop publishing software can generate layouts and produce typographic-quality text and images comparable to traditional typography and printing. Desktop publishing is also the main reference for digital typography. This technology allows individuals, businesses, and other organizations to self-publish a wide variety of content, from menus to magazines to books, without the expense of commercial printing.

Ghostscript

Ghostscript is a suite of software based on an interpreter for Adobe Systems' PostScript and Portable Document Format (PDF) page description languages. Its main purposes are the rasterization or rendering of such page description language files, for the display or printing of document pages, and the conversion between PostScript and PDF files.

Multi-function printer Office machine

An MFP, multi-functional, all-in-one (AIO), or multi-function device (MFD), is an office machine which incorporates the functionality of multiple devices in one, so as to have a smaller footprint in a home or small business setting, or to provide centralized document management/distribution/production in a large-office setting. A typical MFP may act as a combination of some or all of the following devices: email, fax, photocopier, printer, scanner.

In computers, a printer driver or a print processor is a piece of software on a computer that converts the data to be printed to a format that a printer can understand. The purpose of printer drivers is to allow applications to do printing without being aware of the technical details of each printer model.

Harlequin (software company) Software company

Harlequin was a technology company based in Cambridge, UK and Cambridge, Massachusetts. It specialized in application software for printing, graphics, law enforcement, artificial intelligence, and in implementations of programming languages. Harlequin employees sometimes referred to themselves as "The 'Late Binding' company" and the firm eventually evolved into a think tank for advanced technologies.

HP Indigo Division Graphical printing division of HP Inc

HP Indigo Division is a division of HP Inc.'s Graphic Solutions Business. It was founded in 1977 in Israel and acquired by Hewlett-Packard in 2001. HP Indigo develops, manufactures and markets digital printing solutions, including printing presses, proprietary consumables/supplies and workflow solutions. HP Indigo has offices around the world, with headquarters in Ness Ziona, Israel.

Open XML Paper Specification is an open specification for a page description language and a fixed-document format. Microsoft developed it as the XML Paper Specification (XPS). In June 2009, Ecma International adopted it as international standard ECMA-388.

JetForm was the name of a Canadian software manufacturer created by four consultants that was based out of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada and an electronic form software product of the same name.

UniDrv is a GDI-based Microsoft Windows universal printer driver and architecture for non-PostScript printers. It is used to simplify driver development of non-PostScript printers for printer manufacturers. Unidrv allows the creation of a printer-specific minidriver in the form of a GPD file, similar to a PPD file, which is much simpler than kernel mode driver development. Unidrv was introduced in Windows 2000 and replaced the Raster Device Driver (RASDD) interface used in Windows NT 4.0 and earlier versions.

Hewlett-Packard American information technology company (1939–2015)

The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard or HP, was an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. HP developed and provided a wide variety of hardware components, as well as software and related services to consumers, small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), and large enterprises, including customers in the government, health, and education sectors. The company was founded in a one-car garage in Palo Alto by Bill Hewlett and David Packard in 1939, and initially produced a line of electronic test and measurement equipment. The HP Garage at 367 Addison Avenue is now designated an official California Historical Landmark, and is marked with a plaque calling it the "Birthplace of 'Silicon Valley'".

Scailex Corporation Israeli company

Scailex Corporation Ltd. was known as Scitex Corporation Ltd. until December 2005.

Electronics for Imaging American technology company

Electronics for Imaging, Inc. (EFI) is an international company based in Silicon Valley that specializes in digital printing technology. Formerly located in Foster City, California, the company is now based in Fremont. On July 1, 2015, EFI entered the textile printing marketing with the acquisition of Italian digital textile company Reggiani Macchine. On June 16, 2016, EFI acquired Optitex, a 3D digital workflow provider.

The Harlequin RIP is a raster image processor first released in 1990 under the name "ScriptWorks" running as a command-line application to render PostScript language files under Unix. It was developed by Harlequin, a software company based in Cambridge, England.

PDF/VT is an international standard published by ISO in August 2010 as ISO 16612-2. It defines the use of PDF as an exchange format optimized for variable and transactional printing. Built on top of PDF/X-4, it is the first variable-data printing (VDP) format which ensures modern International Color Consortium-based (ICC) color management through the use of ICC Output Intents. It adds the notion of encapsulated groups of graphic objects to support optimized efficient processing for repeating text, graphic or image content. Introducing the concept of document part metadata (DPM), it enables reliable and dynamic management of pages for High Volume Transactional Output (HVTO) print data, like record selection or postage optimization based on metadata.

URW Type Foundry

URW Type Foundry GmbH is a type foundry based in Hamburg, Germany. The foundry has its own library with more than 500 font families. The company specializes in customized corporate typefaces and the development of non-Latin fonts. It has been owned by Monotype Imaging since May 2020.

References

  1. ↑ "Global Graphics - Company - News - Report". www.globalgraphics.com. Retrieved 2022-03-23.
  2. ↑ Inspired, gDoc. "New Product From gDoc Inspired Creates Collaborative Workspaces". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2022-03-23.
  3. ↑ "News :: Global Graphics Software". www.globalgraphics.com. Retrieved 2022-03-23.
  4. ↑ "Global Graphics adquiere prensas de etiquetas y embalajes de HP Indigo". Interempresas (in Spanish). Retrieved 2018-06-26.
  5. ↑ "Global Graphics Software introduces Mako software development kit | Labels & Labeling". www.labelsandlabeling.com. Retrieved 2018-06-26.
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